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The company said that new theme parks such as Legoland Japan had helped it raise sales across its portfolio, while new attractions such as Ninjago World and Ocean Invaders helped it grow its existing estate.

Meanwhile, Merlin is continuing to invest in Alton Towers. Last year it launched the Galactica ride and this year it opened the world’s first CBeebies Land Hotel.

It has 76 rooms, each themed around popular shows like Postman Pat, Something Special, Octonauts, Swashbuckle and In The Night Garden.

And work has started on a new as-yet-unnamed rollercoaster, given the code name Secret Weapon 8, or SW8, which is expected to open next year.

It will be a wooden rollercoaster and will be built on the former flume site.

Chief executive Nick Varney said: "We continue to be excited by the long term underlying growth prospects in our market and have the strategy in place to exploit these.

"We remain on track to meet our 2020 milestone targets, supported not only by the attractions and accommodation opened to date, but also by the progress we have made on the pipeline, in particular the ongoing development of new brands which will underpin the longer term roll-out."